Cody is 10 Months Old!!

Wow, it's unbelievable to think we'll be having Cody's first birthday party next month! He is growing up WAY too fast! He has changed a lot since Christmas. I think he even looks a lot different! He gets around pretty well now. He started rolling everywhere and then graduated to scooting forward on his belly. It's not exactly the army crawl since he uses his legs and feet a lot more than his arms...it's sort of like an inchworm looking crawl. I think it's adorable! And he works hard at it too! He gets up on all fours and rocks but then goes back to belly and scoots or rolls where he needs to go!! He's such entertainment!! He is starting to do a lot of pulling up. He tries so hard but is only able to make it up to his knees...he can't seem to get his feet out from under him yet! But if we stand him up he loves it, and will play standing for however long we let him, or until he falls down on his bottom! He has started saying "Dad" and it's so cute because it's just as plain as it can be!! He also says "mama" and he's starting to mimic a lot of sounds (for example, he'll say "ba" when we talk about the ball or the "baby doll"). He says "gibberish" all the time and we have no clue what he's saying. He's starting to sign more and he's becoming more and more persistent about getting what he wants! Just the last few days he's starting to show some separation anxiety and doesn't like it when I leave the room. He waves "hi" and "bye" to everyone now and he is great at giving high fives! He now has five teeth and is working on the sixth (it's almost poked through)! One of his favorite things to do is sit and take things out and put them back in, then repeat the process 10 times!! I can't tell you how many times in a day we take the toys out of the bucket and then put them back in, take them out again and put them back in!!!! He's such a little personality and I love being home with him everyday!


Here are a BUNCH of pictures!!


9 Months Old:

Here is the famous "bucket" of toys that Cody loves to play with. This can entertain him for a good half hour while Mommy gets some things done!

Cody's gift from Santa Clause!! He loves his jungle, but he mostly just wants to pull up and stand at it!! He does like to put the balls down the ramp and put them in the elephant ears!! We have lots of fun with this toy!

Putting the balls in and out of the hippo is such a fun game!!

We had to take down the mesh bumper around his crib because he was pulling on it and playing with it. The problem now is that we have limbs that tend to stick out of the crib!!!

Our little basketball star!!

Cody loves playing with his car ramp...he's actually pretty good about sending the cars down the ramp. We have to operate the elevator, but he's trying to figure that out!

Cody and Daddy playing with their cars. Cody's ultimate favorite thing to do is play with his Daddy!! He is SO excited when Daddy comes home from work that he practically flies out of my arms to get to him!!

He loves to bang everything he can...so we got him something he's actually suppose to bang on!! Although the hammer ended up banging a lot of things other than the tool bench!!

Our little man is not so little anymore. He'll stand for 20 minutes up at the couch as long as he has something to play with. He hasn't starting crusing yet, but I'm sure he will soon enough!

Our little piano prodigy!

We tried Cody in his big boy bathtub, he liked it the first night but after that he starting crying and trying to climb out. We ended up going back to laying down in the tub until he's a little older!! He does like to sit up and play with his toys before we lay him down! He's a little fish in the water...splashes everywhere!!

10 Months Old:

What a cutie pie!! Cody loves being in his exersaucer. He is a little wild man in there. He jumps so hard sometimes I think he's going to hurt himself. He has even tried rocking to tip it over! He's a little maniac in there and it's so entertaining to watch him!

Cody and Daddy being goofy together!

One of Cody's favorite games to play is ball!! He will sit up and actually catch and throw the ball with you. It's a fun game that we play just about everyday!! I think he's going to be quite a little athlete someday!

I just thought this was such a cute picture!

Cody and his cousin Auden...they are buddies!!

What a face!!!

Playing with Grandpa...that silly old Grandpa!!!! They do have lots of fun together!!

Cody and Grandma playing with the car ramp! He was trying to see where Grandma was putting the car. He was probably thinking that isn't how Daddy does it!!!!

Strollin' in Style!!

Cody and his friend Callie. They are SO cute together. Cody will be chasing Callie around in no time!!!

Cody snuggling his "Elle!"

Cody loves to sit with a basket of books and read by himself. He'll let me sit and show him some books, but he prefers to look at them himself! My independent little man! One of his favorite books is the awesome ABC book that Nana made for him. His favorite page is the D page with the Doggie that has peek-a-boo ears!!!

Cody is growing up so fast and he's learning so many new things. It has been an amazing adventure to watch him and be able to see everything he's learning each day!! I can't imagine my life without him...he is our pride and joy!!!

Cody's First Christmas!

Our first Christmas together as a family was truly wonderful!! We had such a great time with Cody and he loved "opening" his presents (it was more "eating" the presents)! He was so cute Christmas morning, he played with his new toys and actually helped open his presents! Here are a few pictures from Cody's First Christmas!

Cody sound asleep Christmas Eve after his first reading of "Twas the Night Before Christmas!!"

Cody's present from Santa...he was so excited when he saw this that we must have played with it for a good half hour before having breakfast!

He loves taking the balls in and out of the hippo!!

Cody opening his presents. He was acutally very good at this! After the first couple presents Cody realized there was something under the paper that he liked, so he'd lean forward to see what was in the package...it was so adorable!

Here is Daddy and Cody with their new "Tootle" book and character. That was one of Daddy's favorite books when he was a little boy!

He had to taste a couple...of course!!

Cody on his way to Grandma and Grandpa's for Christmas!!

Cody in his "Christmas Sweater!" He's not so sure what the big deal is, but Mommy and Daddy thought he looked pretty cute!!

We sure had a memorable First Christmas with Cody and we can't wait until next year when he really understands that there are presents he wants under the wrapping paper!!

Cody is 8 Months Old!!

I can't believe it, but Cody is already 8 months old!! He's grown so much the last month, it's amazing. He has changed in so many ways! He is now in mostly 18 month clothes (he pretty much skipped the 9 and 12 month sizes), he eats his veggies and fruit like a pro, and he has started to eat little Gerber "puffs" (despite the fact he has no teeth...he just "gums" them!). Cody is sitting up very well now (although he will sometimes still fling himself backwards, so we put a pillow behind him just in case!) and he has started to scoot (only he's in reverse!). He will hold himself up very well with his arms while on his tummy and he can spin all the way around in a circle on his tummy. He just hasn't gotten the hang of going forward! He wants to...he just hasn't figured that out quite yet!


He is such a little entertainer! He will wave now when you wave at him, or ask him to say hi, and he loves to give "high fives!" He has started using some sign language, which includes the signs "more," "hi," "milk," and the last few days I think he's been trying "eat," and "daddy." His favorite thing to do is take his toys and "bang" them together, and also to clap at everything!!! He claps all the time, especially if he's proud of himself over something! I realize now that I have been a "clapping fool" since he was only a few months old. Every time he does something cute or exciting I'll clap and say "yeah!" and now I wonder why he claps at everything!!!


Here are some recent pictures!

When we first showed him this "wobble" penguin he was terrified of it!! If he could see it anywhere in the room he would cry!

As you can see, he now loves his penguin!! It's actually one of his favorite toys to play with! He usually picks the whole thing up off the ground...he's a strong little man!!

This is Cody's favorite toy! He loves his ball toy. He will pull it down toward him so that the balls shoot out in his face and he can grab them! If he gets fussy we bring this toy out and he instantly smiles when he sees it!!

Cody and his "Elle!" He has become quite attached to his "Elle" and he will cuddle it when he sleeps and then play with it when he wakes up!

Every day is so fun and exciting with him! It seems he learns something new all the time!

The "Elves" Visit Cody James!!

Cody had his first visit from the Elves on December 1st! This was a tradition that Mommy had as a child. Each year the "Elves" would visit to mark the countdown 'til Christmas. They would fill our Advent calendar with different candies for each day of December and then leave a present for each of the kids under the calendar. We thought this would be a fun tradition to continue for our own children. Cody is a little young yet for the candy in the calendar, but not too young for a visit from the "Elves!"

Here is a picture of Cody on the morning of December 1st opening his presents from the "Elves!"

When we gave him the first present he stared at it until he realized that he could grab it, and then he took it right out of my hands!

He actually ripped the paper off and tried to look and see what was under the paper. It was very cute! Of course, once the paper was off he took one look at the book, set it down, and went right for the paper to see if he could get it in his mouth!!

He was very excited when he opened this crawl-along toy and saw that it had beads and pretty colors on it. He immediately tried lifting it off the tray to see if he could shake it! He now loves playing with this toy!

I think that Cody will look forward each year to his visit from the "Elves!" Especially once he's old enough to actually understand what the whole event is all about!!!

Turkey Day!

Cody's first Thanksgiving was wonderful! We made the trip up to Saginaw on Thursday morning to spend the day with Dan's family. Cody did great on the trip up there! We discovered that the best time to take him in the car is during his morning nap, which is usually his longer nap of the day. He slept most of the way and was in a great mood when we arrived! He was so good all day, he even took an hour and a half nap while we all had our Thanksgiving dinner. I was a little bummed that he didn't get to eat with us all, but when he got up we gave him a taste of some real sweet potatoes that Grandma made! He liked the first few bites but then turned away by the third bite! I think they were too sweet for him!

He had a great time playing with all the neat toys that Grandma had for him. His favorite thing to play with was the little basketball hoop that she had. He loves anything with balls and this one he could reach the hoop, tug on it, eat it, and also pick up the balls when they came out! He was all smiles the whole day!

Here are a few pictures of Cody's First Thanksgiving!!

He wasn' t too sure about the bean bag at first, but then he seemed to like being "wedged" in there!!

He is definitely our "little turkey!"

Cody's newest discovery is that he can take everything and bang it together. He does this with any kind of balls, his stacking cups, or anything else he can figure out how to bang together! He gets very excited over this concept!!

We took Cody to meet his Great Grandpa Rapin on Thanksgiving day. He took a minute to warm up, but then he smiled at him, and even reached out to touch and stroke his arm. It was very sweet!! It is neat to think this picture contains 3 generations of Rapins!

My Little Snow Man!!

Today we took a trip out to meet Mandy and Auden for some lunch and a little shopping. First we went to the children's consignment shop where I got Cody some new pants. That little stinker completely bypassed 9 month clothes, and his 12 month sleepers are already getting tight on him! I feel like I by him the next size and he's literally only in it for a week or two...he's only eight months old and his 12 month sleepers are getting tight!! Anyways, we went to the mall afterward and had some lunch, and then did some browsing in the stores. Since it was so windy and cold out I decided to put Cody in his snow suit!! He was such a little cutie. He was such a good sport about putting it on. He was even smiling when I was done and let me take his picture.

Here is my sweet little boy looking like he's ready for a snowball fight and there isn't even any snow on the ground!! But he's gonna be nice and warm out in the cold wind!!

It's a rough life being a baby...especially when Mommy takes you out to the mall for the afternoon and you miss your nap!!

My New Cousin!!

We traveled to Illinois over the weekend to see Grandma & Grandpa Stried. We also went to meet the newest member of our family...Sidney Allison Stried!! She is a little cutie...and Spiderman was at Grandma & Grandpa's too!! Here are some cute pictures of our trip!

Cody on Aunt Heather's lap and Grandma Stried holding cousin Sidney!! To think that Cody was ever that tiny!!!

Cody with "Spiderman!!" He was playing with cousin Henry when all of a sudden Henry left the room and out came "Spiderman!!" He loved playing with his friendly neighborhood Spiderman...I thought he might be frightened...but he smiled at him!!!

Cody with his Grandma...he loves his Grandma...talks to her on the phone all the time...even gives her kisses!! Don't they look alike?!!?

Cody decided to keep smiling for the camera when I'd say "cheese!" He was being such a little "ham!"

I know this picture came out blurry...but the look on his face said so much about his personality that I had to post it!! He is such a little turkey...and he has such a little "trouble maker" look!!!

Cody is never one to sit still!! He will usually try and climb out of my arms if I try and sit down with him for too long. The only way he'll sit still for 5 minutes at a time is if I'm reading to him. But with his Grandpa...he'll sit in his lap for 30 minutes and be completely content!! He loves being nestled in his Grandpa's arms for however long Grandpa will play with him! They had a great time together this weekend!!

Cody even did great on the 3 1/2 hour car ride to Illinois...he's such a little sport!! We're looking forward to going to Saginaw for Thanksgiving where we will be spending the night at Grandma and Grandpa Rapin's!! Cody is becoming quite the little traveler!!